Revised Podcast App oddness

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
OK, since I have updated macOS to 11.3 and had Apple's Podcast app updated as a result, I am not sure it is a step forward.
1. Now when I click on "Shows" in the sidebar, while it still shows the icons for Podcasts I subscribe to, it is less clear which of these have new episodes I need to go for.
2. While I have set the Preferences in the Podcast app to "Automatically deleted played episodes" it isn't doing that.

Screen Shot 2021-04-30 at 11.13.51 PM.png

Episodes I have watched going way back in time are still shown:

Screen Shot 2021-04-30 at 11.15.40 PM.png

And while I can click on the 3 dots to the right of each episode and select an option to delete that episode, I haven't found a way to remove them all at once.

And speaking of Podcast app's Preferences, is it only me who finds it confusing to see the frame around the "General" tab while then selecting the "Playback" or "Advanced" tab (see first image above.) Yes, I see the subtle shading difference but what is that frame around "General" all about if it doesn't follow the tab you select?

I have tried quitting the Podcast app and restarting it, but still no improvement.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
I think the iOS version of the podcast app is clearer than the new Mac version, but I think your confusion is arising out of a misunderstanding of the category "Shows." That is intended to show a list of all episodes available for that podcast -- regardless of whether you have listened to them or not. They are not all on your Mac, this is just a pull of the episode list from Apple. The "Listen Now" category will show the current episode OR the one you are currently listening to.

"Latest Episodes" shows exactly what it says -- the current UNLISTENED TO episode of every podcast you have subscribed to. If you've listened to all of, say, Flori-DUH for example, then no new episodes will be see there. Likewise, "Downloads" will only show episodes that have been downloaded to your local storage.

As for the "Delete when played" problem, remember two things:

1. In order for episodes to be considered "played," they must be listened to all the way to the very end. If there's even one second remaining, it's not yet fully "played," and thus won't be deleted.

2. The setting for this that you show above is the "general guideline" if you haven't changed specific settings for that podcast title. This can be overridden on a show-by-show basis using the "three dots" menu next to the title and episode of the podcast on its "playing" page.


Screen Shot 2021-05-01 at 1.30.47 AM.png
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Thanks Chas, Wow, I had certainly developed bad habits and just stuck with them because they were (sort of) working for me. In the previous version of the Podcast app, the "Shows" choice would show me, via a little counter below each icon, the number of unplayed episodes that were available. So I never investigated the "Listen Now" or "Latest Episodes" choices at all.

As to your item 1, I know I have to play to the very end to be noted as "Played".

As to your item 2, I will have to ponder exactly what you are trying to teach me. If you are saying the "Automatically delete played episodes" setting I have in Preferences can be overwritten for specific podcasts in the "three dot" area, I can't quite see that and am sure I have never done such an overriding for any of the podcasts I listen too.

But you have given me lots to consider now and play with and I am sure I will be happier going forward.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
It remains a concern to me that I can not get episodes of podcasts I have already listened to (to the very end) to be deleted automatically so they don't appear in the "Listen Now" section, for example. And no choice under the "three dots" sub menu to remove an already played episode there. For that I have to return to the "Shows" section and use "three dots" sub menu to find a "Remove Download" choice.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
I am getting closer to where I want to be...

Now I start in the "Listen Now" area. While I could have sworn I had finished listening to SJ227, perhaps I haven't - willing to buy that. But I have definitely listened completely to the other April episodes shown. So I clicked on the three dots to the right of "Following" (not the three dots next to each episode) and clicked on Settings.

Screen Shot 2021-05-01 at 11.49.01 PM.png



That let me change the "Hide Played Episodes" setting from the default Off to On and click "OK" to set it.


Screen Shot 2021-05-01 at 11.49.21 PM.png


That removed (or at least hid) all the episode I know I have listened to except for some really old ones. I can't believe I have missed those (from 2019) What distracted me in Sept - Oct 2019? But at least I have figured out a reasonably quick way to deal with them too.


Screen Shot 2021-05-01 at 11.51.13 PM.png
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
That removed (or at least hid) all the episode I know I have listened to except for some really old ones. I can't believe I have missed those (from 2019) What distracted me in Sept - Oct 2019? But at least I have figured out a reasonably quick way to deal with them too.

I don't do it often (too many other other podcasts to listen to -- and a future new podcast to work on), but it can be kinda fun to listen to older episodes of SJ to see what we (or the pundits) got wrong, or what developed into important things and what ended up amounting to not much, etc.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
Wow, somehow I had totally missed that choice. Thanks for this tip. Now is there some way to select a whole bunch of episodes and "mark as played" the entire bunch in one operation? But even one at a time is better than what I have been doing.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
Wow, somehow I had totally missed that choice. Thanks for this tip. Now is there some way to select a whole bunch of episodes and "mark as played" the entire bunch in one operation? But even one at a time is better than what I have been doing.
Nope. At least not at present, I would bet that a future update will fix that aspect (and the myriad other minor issues people have been complaining about on both this new Mac and the new iOS Podcast app.

There are some alternative macOS podcast players, ranging from free to free-with-premium-features-subscription, to paid. I don't tend to listen to podcasts on my Mac, and there are a lot more options for alternative podcast players on iOS.
 

DaveWT

Well-Known Member
I managed to go in and mark all the old episodes as "played" and then having the setting to hide all played episodes took care of the cleanup.

Oddly, I noted that for each podcast that I follow, there were always old episodes for a period in 2019 presented, even though I know I would have listened to them back then. I might have missed one or two perhaps at the time but not all the episodes for the same months for all the different podcasts I follow. So I assume this was a glitch on the part of the "new and improved" podcast app and hopefully now that I have managed to clean them out, that will be the end of it.
 

chas_m

Well-Known Member
So I assume this was a glitch on the part of the "new and improved" podcast app and hopefully now that I have managed to clean them out, that will be the end of it.

It is definitely a glitch. Lots of people reporting that old episodes are being "reloaded" as unplayed on their machines.
 
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